Movies like The Face of Fear (1971)
The best movies like The Face of Fear (1971) are Run All Night (2015), Sexy Beast (2001) and Murder by Contract (1958). If The Face of Fear hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Face of Fear
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAfter Hours (1985)7.5/10 from 1,879 votes
- NewestAbove & Below (2026)Released 2026
Run All Night (2015)
Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon has seen better days. Longtime best friend of a mob boss, Jimmy is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. But when Jimmy’s estranged son becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy has just one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSexy Beast (2001)
Ex-safecracker Gal Dove has served his time behind bars and is blissfully retired to a Spanish villa paradise with a wife he adores. The idyll is shattered by the arrival of his nemesis Don Logan, intent on persuading Gal to return to London for one last big job.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMurder by Contract (1958)
Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWardriver (2026)
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCopshop (2021)
On the run from a lethal assassin, a wily con artist devises a scheme to hide out inside a small-town police station. However, when the hit man turns up at the precinct, an unsuspecting rookie cop finds herself caught in the crosshairs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCity of Ghosts (2002)
A con man who is on the run from law enforcement in the U.S. travels to Cambodia to collect his share in an insurance scam but discovers more than he bargained for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisKnockaround Guys (2001)
Four sons of well-known New York mobsters must retrieve a bag of cash from a small Montana town ruled by a corrupt sheriff.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfter Hours (1985)
Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKill Me Again (1989)
After Faye and her psychotic boyfriend, Vince, successfully rob a mob courier, Faye decides to abscond with the loot. She heads to Reno, where she hires feckless private investigator Jack Andrews to help fake her death. He pulls the scheme off and sets up Faye with a new identity, only to have her skip out on him without paying. Jack follows her to Vegas and learns he's not the only one after her. Vince has discovered that she's still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody Brokers (2021)
Utah and his girlfriend Opal, are drug addicts living on the streets in rural Ohio. After getting recruited by body broker Wood and offered treatment in Los Angeles, Wood takes Utah under his wing and introduces him to treatment center mogul Vin. Wood and Vin bring Utah in on their lucrative and illegal dealings, where saving lives comes second to the bottom line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Raven (2012)
A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mechanic (1972)
Arthur Bishop is a veteran hit man who, owing to his penchant for making his targets' deaths seem like accidents, thinks himself an artist. It's made him very rich, but as he hits middle age, he's so depressed and lonely that he takes on one of his victim's sons, Steve McKenna, as his apprentice. Arthur puts him through a rigorous training period and brings him on several hits. As Steven improves, Arthur worries that he'll discover who killed his father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLooper (2012)
In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing of Killers (2023)
Garan is a part of a group of international hitmen who are contracted to take out the most dangerous killer in the world, only to find out that they're the ones being hunted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove & Below (2026)
A group of friends' dream diving vacation turns into a fight for survival when brutal criminals attack their boat in open waters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisKilling Them Softly (2012)
Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Island 2 (2014)
Following the events of the first part, Mansour Al-Hefni escapes from prison and reunites with his son Ali and brother to return to the island to recover what they have lost. Mansour must stand against his old love Karima while the leader of the travelers tribe Sheikh Jaafar enters the conflict for rulership
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Tortured (2008)
A mobster orders an undercover FBI agent to torture an accountant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCriss Cross (1949)
An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuper Fly (1972)
Priest, a New York City drug kingpin, devises a scheme to get out of the business and retire with a big payday, but his plans are complicated when a street dealer rats him out to the police.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Cosmo Vittelli, the proprietor of a sleazy, low-rent Hollywood cabaret, has a real affection for the women who strip in his peepshows and the staff who keep up his dingy establishment. He also has a major gambling problem that has gotten him in trouble before. When Cosmo loses big-time at an underground casino run by mobster Mort, he isn't able to pay up. Mort then offers Cosmo the chance to pay back his debt by knocking off a pesky, Mafia-protected bookie.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTime (2021)
A boy keeps postponing his prayer. Little did he know that the angel of death is already so close to meet him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Back in Action (1994)
Two men have different motivations but the same goal when they team up and mount an assault on a powerful drug gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Street Boss (2009)
Based on the true story of how the FBI brought down one of Detroit's most notorious mobsters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Ice Harvest (2005)
A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Face of Fear?
The closest matches to The Face of Fear are Run All Night (2015), Sexy Beast (2001) and Murder by Contract (1958). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Face of Fear?
Start with Run All Night (2015), the closest match to The Face of Fear.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Face of Fear?
After Hours (1985), rated 7.5/10 by 1,879 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Face of Fear?
Above & Below (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Face of Fear?
Yes: Run All Night (2015), Sexy Beast (2001) and Murder by Contract (1958).
How are movies similar to The Face of Fear chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Face of Fear, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.